By Merve Yildizalp
ANKARA (AA) – The Union of Turkish Bar Associations (TBB) has sent a letter to international legal organizations in response to Israel’s recent bombing of a camp for displaced people in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, calling for immediate action.
In a statement released Wednesday, the TBB called on international legal organizations including the Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe (CCBE), the International Association of Lawyers, the International Bar Association and the Federation of European Bars "not to remain silent on genocide.”
In the letter, the TBB underlined the critical need for swift justice, asserting that "delayed justice will not be justice."
What matters is the immediate prevention of crimes against humanity, where the presence of genocidal intent is now even more evident, it underlined.
“While the gravest crimes against humanity witnessed throughout human history are being committed, punishing the perpetrators through international law after children and innocent civilians lose their lives will not ensure justice,” it noted.
Israel carried out an airstrike on a tent camp for displaced Palestinians in Rafah on Sunday, killing at least 45 people and wounded nearly 250, said Gaza’s government media office.
The strike occurred near the logistics base of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) in Tal al-Sultan.
Israel has continued its brutal offensive on the Gaza Strip since Oct. 7 last year following an attack by the Palestinian group Hamas, despite a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire in the enclave.
More than 37,171 people have since been killed in Gaza and 81,420 others injured, the vast majority being women and children, and vast swathes of the enclave lay in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine.
Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which in its latest ruling ordered it to immediately halt its operation in Rafah, where over a million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.
*Writing by Seda Sevencan